Yoshi's facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Yoshi’s

Full name	Yoshi’s Oakland
Address	510 Embarcadero West Oakland, CA 94607-3506
Location	Jack London Square
Public transit	Oakland – Jack London Square Oakland Ferry Terminal Free Broadway Shuttle (weekdays only) to 12th Street/Oakland City Center
Owner	Yoshie Akiba, Kaz Kajimura
Capacity	310
Construction
Opened	May 18, 1997 (1997-05-18)
Construction cost	$3 million

Yoshi's (also known as Yoshi's Jazz Club and Yoshi's Oakland) is a nightclub located in Jack London Square in Oakland, California, United States. The venue originally opened in 1972 as a restaurant in Berkeley, later moving to Claremont Avenue in Oakland. In 1979, the restaurant expanded into a lounge/nightclub hosting local and national jazz musicians.

In 1985, the venue was rebranded as Yoshi's Nitespot until 1997, when it moved yet again within the Port of Oakland. The current location began operations May 18, 1997 with a performance by Tito Puente.

History

Nels Cline performing in 2006 in Oakland

The venue began as a Japanese restaurant in Berkeley established by Yoshie Akiba, a World War II war orphan, (who came to the United States to study dance, art, and dance therapy), and her friends Kaz Kajimura and Hiroyuki Hori, the club soon moved to a larger space on Claremont Avenue and began to feature live jazz music. It eventually gained a reputation as one of the most significant jazz venues on the West Coast.

In May 1997, the club moved to Jack London Square during the revitalization of the Port of Oakland, as a 330-seat, 17,000-square-foot (1,600 m²) jazz concert hall with an attached 220 seat Japanese restaurant, assisted by funding from the Oakland Development Agency.

San Francisco location

Yoshi's in San Francisco

On November 28, 2007, it opened a second 28,000-square-foot (2,600 m²) location in San Francisco's Fillmore District, as a flagship of the city's attempt to restore the formerly African American neighborhood (which was uprooted in the 1970s by urban renewal) as a center of black culture and jazz. On July 1, 2014, Yoshi's San Francisco was purchased by Fillmore Live Entertainment Group. On November 1, 2014, the name changed to The Addition, and three months later it closed entirely.

Roy Haynes was the featured performer on the opening night of the new San Francisco location.

Recordings

• George Coleman At Yoshi's (Theresa, 1989)
• Robben Ford The Authorized Bootleg (Blue Thumb, 1997)

Noted performers

See also

• List of jazz clubs